Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Does the life of Gandhi change our views regarding his contribution to world peace?

Folks will soon begin preparation for the trip to
Washington DC to remember the march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 years
ago. It will be a great day filled with messages about hope and overcoming.Lost in the mix is the story that alters my
perception of the movement.

There is little controversy headed into Saturday’s
gathering.There was the news of gospel
singer Donnie McClurkin being uninvited due the “potential controversy” his
presence might have.McClurkin believes
God has delivered him from the “curse” of homosexuality.He was set to perform during Saturday’s Reflection on Peace: From Gandhi to King,
a concert to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray requested that McClurkin stay
home to avoid protestors not so happy with his claim of having his feelings for
men removed by God.A big problem was avoided
by requesting McClurkin not to perform.That doesn’t address the big fat elephant hanging in the middle of the
Capitol Mall.

Reflection of
Peace: From Gandhi to King is mired
by the mention of the man known for crafting nonviolent protest.My views of Gandhi have radically shifted
since the release of Joseph Lelyveld’s book Great
Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India. There are a few points
that force us to rethink the life and work of Gandhi.

Gandhi is herald as an icon to the American
civil-rights movement.Despite his
appeal to the work of Dr. King, Lelyveld’s book reveals Gandhi’s racism toward
blacks of South Africa.

"We were then marched off to a prison intended
for Kaffirs," Gandhi complained during one of his campaigns for the rights
of ­Indians settled South Africa. "We could understand not being classed
with whites, but to be placed on the same level as the ­Natives seemed too much
to put up with. Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilized—the convicts even more so.
They are troublesome, very dirty and live like animals."

Regarding Afrikaaners and Indians, he wrote: "We
believe as much in the purity of races as we think they do." That was
possibly why he refused to allow his son Manilal to marry ­Fatima Gool, a
Muslim, despite publicly promoting Muslim-Hindu unity.

Then there’s the matter of Gandhi’s relation with Manu,
his 17-year-old great niece.When he was
in his 70s, he encouraged Manu to be naked during her nightly cuddles with him.
Gandhi began sleeping naked with Manu
and other young women. He told a woman on one occasion: "Despite my best
efforts, the organ remained aroused.
It was an altogether strange and shameful experience."

On one occasion, Gandhi forced Manu to walk through a
thick jungle were sexual assaults had occurred to retrieve a pumice stone he
used on his feet.When she returned
hysterical, Gandhi laughed at her and said: "If some ruffian had carried
you off and you had met your death courageously, my heart would have danced
with joy."

Jad Adam’s book Gandhi:
Naked Ambition claims Gandhi enslaved his followers with such bizarre
sexual demands that it became difficult for many people to take him seriously,
even during his own lifetime.

In his own autobiography, Gandhi was candid about
abusing his wife.He shared the story of
beating her for failing to clean a toilet.

Lelyveld claims the real love of Gandhi’s life was a German-Jewish
architect and bodybuilder, Hermann Kallenbach. Gandhi left his wife in 1908 to
be with him.

"How completely you have taken ­possession of my
body. This is slavery with a vengeance." Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach.

Gandhi nicknamed himself "Upper House" and
Kallenbach "Lower House," and he made Lower House promise not to
"look lustfully upon any woman." The two then pledged "more
love, and yet more love . . . such love as they hope the world has not yet
seen."

‘I cannot imagine a thing as ugly as the intercourse
of men and women,’ Gandhi told Kallenbach.

If alive today, and living in America, Gandhi would be
charged with spousal abuse, sexual misconduct with minors and torture. Does any of that negate the work Gandhi did to
promote world peace?He did write a
letter to Hitler asking him not to start a world war.

As cruel as it is to bring to the surface Gandhi’s
dirty laundry, isn’t it important that the rest be told when we use his name to
raise the banner for all types of human rights?

Can we realistically talk about women’s rights when
using Gandhi’s name? Can we talk about protecting our youth given Gandhi’s
relationship with his great-niece?

We can summons the memory of Gandhi to discuss gay
rights.He has that in common with
McClurkin.

Like most people, I love the Gandhi of the movie.Sadly, there is more to that story.It’s a past I hate mentioning, but, as
always, it’s important to tell the rest of the story.

Reflection of
Peace: From Gandhi to King.What does that mean given the rest of the story?

5 comments:

To be fair to him he was a high caste Hindu who had been brought up under all this shit in a country which had all this shit for 1000s of years in a time most of the world was facing racism,

And America was happily doing institutional racism , which was rampant, and so was Churchill 100 times more racist than him,

he said some stuff, he didn't own or torture slaves, all this does not make his racist statements less wrong, he was wrong, but does not really reduce who he was or his messages...

That was a different dark age, but say he worked for upliftment and removal of all the shit in the caste system like untouchability, so maybe that's okay, if it matters to you.

Yes yes Gandhi beat his wife.

Once or twice.Like one slap, because she would not take her turn to clean the toilets because Africans and low caste Hindus had used them whilst everyone including him would do so In their farm. They would all do all the chores to learn how to be humble .

Yes he beat, I'm sorry for that, and he beat one of his students too! Once for stealing, then never hit anyone again and promoted peace and nonviolence whilst he could easily have turned India into the largest armed hell hole in the world ever .

Yes he beat and that's VERY wrong. okay, But perhaps he also had mental health problems because he was a closeted homosexual with a jew friend called kallenback and could not come out of the closet, and so resented his wife and was very frustrated. Mental health issue may lead to violence please.

Also, he did not have sex with her, after some years of marriage and perhaps because his father died whilst they were having sex, I think, Further indications of that,. He was closeted.

Wow! I am amazed and saddened by how much we sanitize history. Thank you so much for this illuminating article. I agree, it serves no one to look at history or historical figures through rose colored glasses. We must embrace the truth and see things as they are. To be honest I am quite taken back and disgusted by his racism and misogyny. But I am so glad to now see the man in all of his complexity.

To be fair to him he was a high caste Hindu who had been brought up under all this shit in a country which had all this shit for 1000s of years in a time most of the world was facing racism,

And America was happily doing institutional racism , which was rampant, and so was Churchill 100 times more racist than him,

he said some stuff, he didn't own or torture slaves, all this does not make his racist statements less wrong, he was wrong, but does not really reduce who he was or his messages...

That was a different dark age, but say he worked for upliftment and removal of all the shit in the caste system like untouchability, so maybe that's okay, if it matters to you.

Yes yes Gandhi beat his wife.

Once or twice.Like one slap, because she would not take her turn to clean the toilets because Africans and low caste Hindus had used them whilst everyone including him would do so In their farm. They would all do all the chores to learn how to be humble .

Yes he beat, I'm sorry for that, and he beat one of his students too! Once for stealing, then never hit anyone again and promoted peace and nonviolence whilst he could easily have turned India into the largest armed hell hole in the world ever .

Yes he beat and that's VERY wrong. okay, But perhaps he also had mental health problems because he was a closeted homosexual with a jew friend called kallenback and could not come out of the closet, and so resented his wife and was very frustrated. Mental health issue may lead to violence please.

Also, he did not have sex with her, after some years of marriage and perhaps because his father died whilst they were having sex, I think, Further indications of that,. He was closeted.

To be fair to him he was a high caste Hindu who had been brought up under all this shit in a country which had all this shit for 1000s of years in a time most of the world was facing racism,

And America was happily doing institutional racism , which was rampant, and so was Churchill 100 times more racist than him,

he said some stuff, he didn't own or torture slaves, all this does not make his racist statements less wrong, he was wrong, but does not really reduce who he was or his messages...

That was a different dark age, but say he worked for upliftment and removal of all the shit in the caste system like untouchability, so maybe that's okay, if it matters to you.

Yes yes Gandhi beat his wife.

Once or twice.Like one slap, because she would not take her turn to clean the toilets because Africans and low caste Hindus had used them whilst everyone including him would do so In their farm. They would all do all the chores to learn how to be humble .

Yes he beat, I'm sorry for that, and he beat one of his students too! Once for stealing, then never hit anyone again and promoted peace and nonviolence whilst he could easily have turned India into the largest armed hell hole in the world ever .

Yes he beat and that's VERY wrong. okay, But perhaps he also had mental health problems because he was a closeted homosexual with a jew friend called kallenback and could not come out of the closet, and so resented his wife and was very frustrated. Mental health issue may lead to violence please.

Also, he did not have sex with her, after some years of marriage and perhaps because his father died whilst they were having sex, I think, Further indications of that,. He was closeted.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina